Seriously Playful or Playfully Serious
Critical Reflections on the Interdisciplinary Use of the Cultural Probes Method
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6013855 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anne Häkkinen (0000-0002-8039-215X), Avanti Chajed (0000-0001-5525-6917), Johanna Ylipulli (0000-0002-7537-4774), Dani Kalarikalayil Raju (0000-0003-1854-5271), Aale Luusua (0000-0003-4478-0769) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 83-112 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnologia Fennica (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0355-1776 • E-ISSN: 2489-4982 |
| Publisher | Ethnologia Fennica (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.23991/ef.146098 |
| OpenAlex | W4411795929 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
Creative and visual methods have shown great potential to engender new ideas and (self) understandings in participants in research focused on topics that are hard to address via conventional qualitative methods such as interviews. Through their playful approach, such methods can open a whole new window for researchers to understand participants or research phenomena. However, engaging participants through these methods can be challenging, and the outcome can be more uncertain and unpredictable compared to conventional qualitative methods. Our article introduces three case studies that applied a method drawn from design research, namely cultural probes. By analyzing these cases together, we are able to highlight the strengths, shortcomings, and issues that need careful consideration when probes are applied to an ethnographic research process. We critically reflect on the ideas of playfulness behind the visual and creative approaches and contribute to methodological discussions on playful methods particularly with adult participants. Our findings emphasize the importance of profound understanding of the epistemological background of the method, why playfulness is employed in research, to whom probes are targeted, and how motivation is engendered in participants. Employed without these considerations, playfulness of probes can appear strange and as something that alienates the study participants rather than engages them in sharing their views and ideas
Aesthetics · Art · Child Therapy and Development · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Educational Games and Gamification
Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Design
A Picture Is Worth . . . ? Photo Elicitation Interviewing With Formerly Homeless Adults
Voice in Qualitative Inquiry
Talking about pictures
Design
Cultural probes and the value of uncertainty
But is it Innovation
Doing Sensory Ethnography
Knowledge-making on ‘ageing in a smart city’ as socio-material power dynamics of participatory action research
Anthropology and Play
Beyond the standard interview
Enacting Decolonized Methodologies
Visual Methods in Ethnography
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |